Interesting Discussions: Why Do We Use Social Networks?
I’ve written about the utility of social networking services like Facebook before, and Chris Brogan offers (yet another) interesting take on why we use them. On a related note, Loic Le Meur Blog had a great story about how our social media maps are becoming more and more fractured and out of our control.
I really agree with Loic on this one - I really wish that this site was the hub for my online activities and my online identity, and to a certain degree it is, but it’s not always the first place people go to find stuff about me. For that, most people turn to Facebook, because that’s where they already are. Facebook is the medium that they are most comfortable inside of. Perhaps the best way to approach this multi-media (har har) way of managing our online identities is to customize the way we present ourselves to suit the medium and the sorts of people we interact with on each medium. For example:
- Facebook - Most of my friends there are people I already know and have relationships with them, therefore most of my interactions are more personal in nature, so I won’t friend random people
- davidgiesberg.com - Most of the people here are folks that I don’t know, so the content is more generic, personally speaking
- Twitter - I use Twitter to connect to people that I wouldn’t really have an opportunity to connect to otherwise
Both of these stories sparked a lot of great discussion on their respective sites, so be sure to read them there. How do you reconcile multiple social networks with your online identity?
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